Modern Manners: Tagging Facebook Photos

So I keep getting tagged in photos on Facebook by one of my friends that I would rather not have on my profile, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings. This must happen to everyone, not me, right? Anyway, thanks for any advice! –Sara

Facebook. I held out against joining the social network for five years past its inception. My girlfriends would talk about old friends and flames from high school they’d rediscovered, how I had to join. At its onset, I felt Facebook was too invasive of one’s privacy. I was not interested in having my personal life on display in cyberspace for all to see. Only after I learned about the customizable privacy settings did my case against the site begin to wane. And I suppose the engagement ring I was newly wearing at the time may have had a little something to do with it, too. I mean, let’s be honest.

I relented, signed up for a Facebook account and cranked my privacy parameters high. I found a handful of old friends that I had lost touch with over the years. I was able to keep up to date with family members that are scattered across the country. It was a place to find each other and stay connected when the day-to-day gets too busy to make long-overdue phone calls. All in all it was great. And then, I had a baby.

A couple months after my son was born, we went to a family reunion on a lake in lovely Minnesota. When I returned home, I logged on to Facebook and to my dismay, found the most unflattering photo of myself I’ve ever seen: a photo taken at the reunion of me in a bathing suit, with twenty-five extra pounds of post-pregnancy baby weight hanging off my frame. I was mortified. Not only was the photo online for all to see, but I was tagged in it, ensuring its debut was announced to all my online friends. Ashley Fauset was tagged in a photo. How could the person who posted it have thought it was okay to share that image online?

Facebook is one of the most public places we go, despite the fact that we most often visit the site when we’re alone. It’s not only a place to keep in touch with far away friends and share life events;

Many people prefer to keep their online profiles professional, as companies and employers are often view such information online

the site gives users the opportunity to curate their online identity to portray a certain persona, to brand themselves publicly. Many people prefer to keep their online profiles professional, as companies and employers are often view such information online, especially during the hiring process. Others share all their wild and crazy adventures, post questionable photos and use colorful language. The way I use Facebook may be entirely different from the way you use it, which is likely different from how the next person uses it.

So what should we do about unwanted tags and photos? Let’s begin to implement some general Facebook courtesy–a little online etiquette–if you don’t practice it already, that is, in the hopes that our friends will follow suit. It’s really rather easy. Just take a moment to think before you tag photos, take the following points into account and use common sense before you click that little blue box bearing the word “post.”

Respect Your Friends

Look at the photo you’re about to post. How do all your friends look? Are your they scantily clad? Amid a night of drunken debauchery? Are they doing something incriminating? Are they with someone they shouldn’t be? Think twice about posting a photo that portrays people in a bad light. If it were you in the photo, would you still post it online? Consider the people who aren’t in the photo. Was it taken at an exclusive event that when publicized will make others feel left out?

2. Don’t Be a Spoiler

Don’t post images on Facebook from people’s weddings or of their new babies until they do. Such occasions are very personal, and people may not want their news leaked online by a third party. Let your friends make the first post, then feel free to follow suit afterwards in sharing the good news.

3. Don’t Tag Friends if They’re Not in the Photo

Tagging should not be a means to share information with your friends. Don’t tag them in the poster for your band’s upcoming show, as a means for marketing to build a greater audience, to include them in a group thank you note, or to invite them to an event. Remember that these tagged photos will appear on your friends’ pages, and may contain information or images your friends may wish to keep private or feel is inappropriate for their greater online audience. If you want to ensure they see a particular photo, post or event, send it in a private message or even in an email outside of Facebook.

When it’s appropriate to tag people in photographs:

To list people who appear in the photo.

To credit a photographer for an image they took. (Be sure to get permission before posting.)

To give credit to a designer for creating graphic. (Again, obtain prior permission.)

To credit people who worked in or on a particular job directly related to the image.

At this point in time, we have no control over the images posted on Facebook, but we can help control who sees them and who does not.To avoid being tagged in images and notes, Facebook offers the “tag review” option for each user to approve tagged photos in order to appear in their news feed. Another newer feature is to turn off automatic tag suggestions which prevents your name from appearing in the list suggested names when a person tags a photo. If you have a problem with an individual who continues to post and/or tag you against your wishes, you should contact them directly to request they cease such behavior, or block them altogether if the issue escalates.

Have you had to remove tags from photos you were in on Facebook? Do you think your friends should have to get your permission to post a photo of you?

Author Description

Ashley Fauset

Ashley is a party planner, grammar enthusiast, classically trained dancer, and coffee aficionado. She lives in Los Angeles with her musician husband and their hammy four-year-old, and shares her tales of mama-hood at Silver Lake Mom. You can find her online on Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Jami

Great post! I was just talking about this the other day and I meant to go adjust my settings… Thanks for the tutorial!

AshleyFauset

Thanks, Jami. I’m glad you found it helpful. I think unless people are specifically searching for these kinds of privacy settings, they may never know they’re available. Thanks for the feedback!

Autumn Reeser

I love this! This is such good advice for navigating today’s sometimes-murky online waters.

Isabel

The option to approve tags only prevents them from showing on your timeline they will still show on the newsfeed. There is no way to prevent that. Most people will see it on the newsfeed by the time you see it and untag it unless you are extremely vigilant. There used to be an option to set “who sees photos I am tagged in” but no more and even then it was too global -you couldn’t let specific people see specific photos.

AshleyFauset

Isabel, thanks for the update! It’s even trickier to monitor things like this online when Facebook continues to constantly change its user configurations.